Harley-Davidson rides on aspirational content marketing to build brand in India

Harley-Davidson, the 117-year-old premium motorbike brand, entered India 10 years ago and has already built a loyal customer base of over 25,000 owners through an aggressive and aspirational marketing strategy. The brand heavily relies on its strong community network, the ‘Harley Owners Group’ (H.O.G), and shares their real-life stories of love for Harley in the form of short-form video content to build the aspirational quotient around itself.

In the process of creating engaging and appealing content, Harley believes in keeping in mind the aspirations of existing and potential Harley-Davidson owners, who have a shared passion for riding and the call of the open road.

The Harley Owners Group is touted as the world’s first social network, and has been in existence since 1983. In India, it has over 7,500 loyal members.

Harley-Davidson recently launched the #FreedomStoriesIndia content initiative that captures the journeys and philosophies of passionate members of the H.O.G. community. The campaign puts the Harley riders at the forefront while also inspiring the next wave of riders.

The first episode:

The first episode of the video series that went live on the brand’s social media platforms on February 19, 2020, showcased the relationship shared by the first seven Regional Directors of the H.O.G. Community with their machines.

Imran Qadri

Content marketing plays a vital role in engaging with the brand community and with bike lovers outside H.O.G., Imran Qadri, Head, Marketing and PR, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, said in an interaction with BuzzInContent.com.

“Content strategy plays a huge role in creating aspirations and influencing brand positioning. Harley-Davidson has always been a way of living more than just a product, and this is evident in the strong community of Harley owners and the camaraderie that the Harley Owners Group® shares. As a lifestyle brand that Harley-Davidson is, it becomes essential for us to communicate with our riders in their language. Hence when it comes to content marketing, deriving a targeted strategy and getting tonality right becomes important for us,” Qadri said.

It is the best form of branded content and content marketing when consumers become brand advocates. Qadri said, “At Harley-Davidson, we believe that our customers are our number one priority, and if we keep them engaged and satisfied, they will become brand evangelists because they believe in the brand. Our community of H.O.G. members is our greatest asset. However, to create a community that sustains year-on-year requires 100% dedication from the brand.”

Harley-Davidson has a team that runs the H.O.G. programme globally to ensure that there are enough experiences curated to keep its members engaged. The brand has also crafted programmes like ‘Find Your Freedom Internship’ and ‘Harley-Davidson Riding Academy’, that provide immersive brand experience to influencers, enthusiasts and intenders, allowing the brand to create engaging content.

Qadri said Harley-Davidson’s content strategy rests on the following pillars:

- Content must be tied to a business objective.

- It should be linked directly to the audience’s needs and desires and creates aspiration for the brand.

- It can be shared in a consistent and straightforward format.

For Harley Davidson, it is essential that when content creators and platforms approach the brand with pitches, they should have a clear understanding of the brand’s positioning and if they’ll be able to communicate that well to their audience. “The next step would be to translate that understanding into relevant content that complements the brand,” Qadri said.

All automotive brands churn out a lot of content throughout the year to build brand affinity and recall. Therefore, to stand out in the clutter of various content marketing pieces created by the automotive brands is the biggest challenge for Qadri. He said, “We operate in an extremely competitive environment where two-wheelers and four-wheelers are often talking to similar audiences. So, the biggest challenge we face is to create campaigns that stand out from this clutter. We also must be very swift in terms of churning out topical content.” 

Qadri added, “The best way to overcome these challenges is to stay true to the brand. Every brand has a unique narrative and personality, which will always enhance content. Create content pieces that are relatable, possibly anecdotal and shareable for consumers. Also, the experiential to content journey is the best to show and drive credibility and brand relevance.”

The brand believes that the right content created for the right audience at the right time will never struggle to get distributed. Once that is achieved, Harley uses influencers, its community and social media to amplify the messages further. Qadri said that the brand uses paid media at times with a particular focus of reaching to a new consumer set.

Even while 2019 was the worst year for the automotive segment in last two decades in terms of business, Harley-Davidson was able to increase its market share by 3% in 750 and + cc segments between April and December, 2019. Currently, the brand has over 50% market share in India, making one out of every two super-premium motorcycles a Harley.